Door locking mechanism



Aug. 18, 1953 J. MILLER El'AL 2,648,969

DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 16, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR JUL/US MILLER ABE DEUTSCHER ATTORNEY Aug. 18, 1953 MILLER ETAL 2,648,969,

-. 000R LOCKING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 16, 1950 I Y I I 3.Sheets-Sheet .2

, 1 29a mzflvrofi -./u1./us ILLE FIG. II. V ABEDEUTSQHER B FIG. /0. ATTORNEY Aug. 18, 1953 J. MILLER ETAL DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 16, 1950 FIG. 13.

IN VE N TOR JUL/U5 MILLER ABE DEUTIS'CHER BY 52? ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 18, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM Julius Miller, Valley Stream, and Abe Deutscher, Jamaica, N. Y.

Application February 16, 1950, Serial No. 144,542

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to door locking mechanisms and more particularly to key-and manually actuated locking assemblies adapted to be mounted in swinging doors for releasably latching or looking them in closed position.

Most conventional door constructions contain a spring-urged latch operable to a retracted position by a thumb-piece or a knob operatively mounted on a square spindle. When it is desired to provide locking means for securing the door in its closed position, either one of two expedients is commonly employed. One method is to provide an independent lock bolt spaced from the latch and operable to locking or unlocking position by a cylinder lock, an auxiliary knob, or both. The other common expedient is to use the latch for locking the door by providing a separate mechanism controlled by two buttons on the door plate which will lock the latch against movement.

It is a primary object of the present invention to obviate the need of either a separate lock bolt or a separate button-controlled latch look by providing a locking assembly in which the door may be positively locked by means of the conventional spring-loaded latch alone. In carrying out this objective, it is within our contemplation, in the preferred form of our invention, to provide a locking assembly in which this purpose can be accomplished by using a conventional keyactuated look, a manually-actuated auxiliary knob, or both.

It is another object of our invention to provide a device of this nature in which means are provided for looking a door with the conventional latch from either the inside or the outside, and in which in either case, the door may be freely opened from the inside merely by turning the conventional doorknob, without the use of a key and with no prior manipulation being required.

In this aspect of our invention it is also within our contemplation, in certain preferred forms of our invention, to provide a locking device which will permit a door to be locked from the inside to prevent entrance from the outside, and yet will not interfere with the free opening of the door from the inside by turning the doorknob.

It is also an object to eliminate the use of the door-plate button lock control, thereby permitting the aforesaid locking operation to be completed from the inside without concomitant opening of the door to gain access to the door-plate.

It is further within our contemplation to provide a device which will allow pre-settin of the latch to locking condition, and which upon sub- 2 sequent repeated opening and closing of the door from the inside will maintain the locked condition of the outside opening means.

A further object of our invention is to provide a locking assembly having the above-described characteristics which is adapted to employ conventional locking elements and parts, and which may be installed in doors that have already been mortised to accommodate the conventional looking assembly.

Another object is to provide an improved locking assembly as described, the parts of which can be fabricated cheaply using standard tools and materials, and which can be manufactured easily and at low cost.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear from the specification and drawings hereinafter given.

Referrin to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective View showing the major parts of one embodiment of our invention.

Figure 2 is a rear view of the front escutcheon and related. parts shown in locked position.

Figure 3 is a View similar to Figure 2 but showing the parts in unlocked position, and with the latch retracted.

Figure 4 is a view, partly in cross-section, taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 2 and showing additional related elements.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is an elevational view showing a portion of the front of a door with the locking mechanism in place.

Figure 7 is a side elevational view thereof.

Figure 8 is a rear elevational view thereof.

Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 9-9 of Figure 10 and showing another embodiment of our invention.

Figure 10 is an elevational view showing a portion of the front of a door with this embodiment in place.

Figure 11 is a side elevational view thereof.

Figure 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line l2-l2 of Figure 13 and with additional related parts, showing a third embodiment of our invention.

Figure 13 is an elevational View of the rear of the front escutcheon and associated elements of this embodiment, and

Figure 14 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the major elements of this embodiment.

In the preferred form of our invention the door 2| has a handle 23 attached to the outside face thereof, and latch means comprising a pivoted thumb-piece retractor member above the handle which operates a spring-loaded retract-- able latch member 2?, and a rotary knob 29 on the inside face of the door which also actuates the latch member, all of the above-mentioned parts being of conventional construction. Above the thumb-piece 25 is mounted a conventional lock 3|, which may be of the key-actuated cylinder type, and above the knob 22 on the inside face of the door is mounted an auxiliary knob 33 which is also of conventional design. The purposes and interconnection of these parts with the remainder of the locking mechanism will be described in detail hereinafter. The lower end of handle 23 is attached to the door by means of an escutcheon 35 and screws 3? and 39 and the upper end thereof is held by the lower end of an escutcheon 4! which extends upwardly and holds the cylinder lock 3! at its upper portion. A bolt 43 extends through the door from the inside and is threaded into a tapped boss 45 at the uoper end of escutcheon 4! to hold the upper end in place. Escutcheon ll has an apertured portion 4'? which permits the thumb-piece 25 to pass therethrough, and an ear 59 is positioned alongside the apertured portion and extends rearwardly, the thumb-piece being pivoted to the car at its central portion by a pin 53.

The operative elements of our invention are concealed behind escutcheon ll and are positioned within a recess or mortise 53 which is formed within the body of the door. The rear portion of the thumb-piece is widened as shown in Figure 4, and has a flat top surface 55 and a.

lower extension 51 which is transversely apertured to receive a cotter pin 59, as is most clearly shown in Figure 1. The elongated eye iii of the cotter pin carries the upper terminal 63 of a link 65, which is bent over the top of the eye so as to prevent the link from moving downwardly through the eye but offers no resistance to upward movement therethrough. The lower terminal of link 65 is pivoted at the outer end of .a crank arm 61 which is fixed to a square spindle 69. The forward end of spindle 59 (the left end as seen in Figure 4) is supported by an extension at the upper end of handle 23 which passes through the escutcheon 4! and is held thereto by a nut H. This extension has a counterbored portion 13 which acts as a bearing for the journal 75 of the forward end of the spindle 69. A groove 11 extends peripherally around the journal, and a pin 79 within the extension is in tangential relation with the groove, thereby holding the spindle against axial movement relative to its support while permitting rotary movement therebetween. The rear end of the spindle (the right end as seen in Figure 4) is engaged with one side of a conventional springurged retractable latch unit 8|, the details of which are well-known and will not be described, but which comprises two independently rotatable square-holed spindle receivers 83 and 85, the spindle 69 being engageable with spindle receiver 83. Latch unit 8| extends to the outer edge of the door and latch member 2'! extends therefrom through a door plate 89. The spring tension in the latch unit will normally urge spindle 69 and therefore crank arm 61 clockwise as shown in Figure 2, holding link 65 downwardly and urging thumb-piece 25 into its horizontal position as shown by the solid lines in Figure 4. If the thumb-piece is pressed to its inclined position, shown by the dot-dash lines in Figure 4, the upward pull by cotter pin 6| on link 65 will rotate the crank arm and spindle counterclockwise as seen in Figure 2, retracting the latch member 21 to the left as seen in that figure.

The knob 29 controls a conventional square knob spindle 9| which is engaged with spindle receiver 85 on the rear side of the latch unit. Knob 29 controls the latch in the conventional manner by means of a rotary movement in either direction, this movement being independent of the position of spindle 59 or of its associated parts. An escutcheon 93 attached to the rear face of the door supports the knob 29 for rotary movement, and a bolt 94 extends through the lower part of the escutcheon 93 and through the door and'is threaded into a tapped boss 95 at the lower end of escutcheon 4! to hold both escutcheons in place.

A square shaft 96 is positioned above the latch unit and is supported for rotary movement at its forward end (left end as seen in Figure 4) by a bearing 9! which is integral with the rear surface of escutcheon 4|, and which receives an enlarged journal 99 fitted to the end of the shaft. A groove l0! in the journal cooperates with a tangential pin I03 in the bearing to prevent axial movement in a manner similar to that of groove Ti and pin 19 of spindle 69. The auxiliary knob 33 is attached to the rear end of shaft 95 (right end as seen in Figure 4) and is supported by an escutcheon Hi5 attached to the rear face of the door, a pin H36 passing through the shaft immediately forwardly of the escutcheon to prevent axial movement of the shaft.

A blocking member comprising a cam Hi7 is rigidly mounted on square shaft 96 immediately rearwardly of bearing 91 and above flat surface 55 of thumb-piece 25. The periphery of cam it? has a blocking surface I09 of constant diameter, and a recessed portion HI of such size and shape as to allow the rear portion of thumbpiece 25 to move upwardly when the said recessed portion is in the path of surface 55. The blocking surface Hi5 of the cam is of such diameter that when a portion of it is positioned in the path of surface 55 the thumb-piece cannot:

be moved to its inclined position but is locked in the horizontal position shown by the solid lines of Figure 4. A pin H3 is attached to the rear surface of escutcheon 4| and extends rearwardly between the walls H5 and II! of the recess HI, thereby limiting the movement of the cam I01 between a blocking position (shown in Figure 2) in which wall ill abuts pin H3 and blocking surface I59 is in the path of surface 55 of the thumb-piece, and an unblocking position (shown in Figure 3) in which wall I I5 abuts pin H3 and recessed portion IN is in the path of surface 55.

The cylinder lock 3! is mounted above the thumb-piece and above cam iii'i, and has the conventional arm or operating member 5 39 which is movable clockwise or counterclockwise when key iEi is inserted in the lock, the key being withdrawable when arm 5 i9 is either in its lowermost or uppermost position. A pin 223 is mounted on .cam iii? and is engageable by arm lie, so that when the arm is rotated to its extreme counterclockwise position (as shown in Figure 2) pin H3 will be moved to the right, rotating cam is! clockwise into its blocking position. Likewise, when arm H2 is rotated to its extreme clockwise position (as shown in Figure 3) pin 123 will be movedto the left, rotating cam i9? counterclockwise into its unblocking position. In order to prevent the rotation of cam it! without positive movement from either auxiliary knob 33 or look 3L a ball I may be mounted within an apertured portion of bearing 97 as shown in Figure 5, and urged by a spring l2! against the forward surface of the cam. The frictional resistance thus created will prevent rotation of cam It? by jarring or vibration and will insure positive action of the look.

In operation, the improved locking assembly shown in Figures 1 to 8 may be used either to lock the door from the outside using key I2! or from the inside by means of auxiliary knob In either case, movement of the lock 3| or knob 33 will result in rotation of cam I07, as previously described, from its unblocking position of Figure 3 to its blocking position of Figure 2. Since the rear portion of thumb-piece 25 will normally be urged into its lowermost position (the solid lines in Figure 4) there will be no interference with movement of the blocking cam. When the cam is in the blocking position it will be seen that a manual pressure on the thumb-piece will only result in surface 55 pressing against blocking surface 599 of the cam, and that there will be no rotation of spindle S9 and therefore no movement of latch member 2'5, the door being thus efiectively locked. It will be observed, however, that since spindle receiver 85 may be rotated independently of spindle receiver 83 and linkage 65 rides up freely in the eye of cotter pin 59, knob 29 and spindle 9! can be freely rotated to retract the latch member and open the door. Moreover, this action will not change the setting of cam II)? or its related elements, so that when the door is once more closed it will still be locked against outside entrance. It will also be noticed that by rotating auxiliary knob 33 the door may be locked against outside entrance by a person standing inside, without the necessity of opening the door to gain access to the door-plate, and that in this condition the knob 26 can still be freely rotated to open the door from the inside.

Figures 9 to 11 illustrate another embodiment of our invention having parts similar to the elements of Figures 1 to 8, but with a single escutcheon I29 in place of the two escutcheons 93 and I05 of the previous embodiment. Escutcheon I29 is designed to be attached to the inner face of the door and to support both the knob 29a and the auxiliary knob 33a, and two bolts I33 and I35 extend through the upper and lower portions, respectively, of the escutcheon and also through the door, their ends being threaded into tapped bosses I 31 and I39 of front escutcheon 4 Ia. The two bolts thus serve to hold both the inside and outside escutcheons of the door. The auxiliary knob 33a is retained against axial movement by a pin I4I extending through knob shaft I43 forwardly of escutcheon I29, and a slot-and-tongue connection I45 connects the knob shaft with shaft I01a. This arrangement permits easy manufacture and assembly of the parts within the door.

Figures 12 to 14 illustrate a second embodiment of our invention having parts similar to the previous embodiments but in which the auxiliary knob is omitted, and which instead of a cylinder lock utilizes a reciprocal bolt type of lock I41 which has a bolt I49 movable between a lower or extended blocking position (shown by solid lines in Figure 12) and an upper or retracted unblocking position (shown by dot-dash lines). A blocking member I5I is attached to the lower end of the bolt I49 and is so proportioned as to be in the path of surface 551) of thumb-piece 25b when the bolt is in its blocking position. It will be seen, therefore, that when key I2|b is turned to lower the blocking member l5l, thumb-piece 25b and therefore spindle 6% will be locked against movement, and that latch member 21b cannot be withdrawn by actuating the thumbpiece. However, as in the previous embodiments, knob 29b is still freely rotatable to withdraw the latch member, the locked condition of the thumbpiece being undisturbed by this movement. When blocking member I5I is retracted to its upper or unblocking position, as shown by the dot-dash lines in Figure 12, retractive movement of the latch will be permitted by the thumbpiece, since the path of surface 551) will be unobstructed.

We have thus provided a door locking assembly which eliminates the necessity either of a lock bolt or a button-controlled latch look by providing a mechanism in which the conventional latch member may be used to positively lock the door, and in which a conventional key-actuated lock is used to accomplish this purpose. The arrangement is such that free opening of the door,

is permitted at all times by the inside knob, without affecting the locked condition of the outside opening means. We have also provided, in several forms of our invention, a locking assembly having the above-described characteristics which may be locked from either the inside or the outside and which in either case may be repeatedly opened and closed thereafter from the inside, the outside remaining locked. The assembly employs conventional locking elements and parts, is easily manufactured and may be installed in doors already mortised to accommodate the conventional locking assembly.

In the above description, the invention has been disclosed merely by way of example and in preferred manner; but obviously many variations and modifications may be made therein. It is tobe understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or manner of practicing same, except in so far as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. The combination with a door latch mechanism of the type having a spring-loaded retractable latch member slidable between a retracted position within the door and an extended position projecting outwardly from the door and normally yieldably urged into its said extended position, of a thumb-piece pivotally mounted on said door and movable between normal and depressed positions, a crank arm operatively connected to said latch member, a linkage slidably connected to said thumb-piece and pivoted to said crank arm whereby said latch member is movable into said retracted position in response to pivotal movement of said thumb-piece into said depressed position, releasable locking means for said thumb-piece comprising an operating member arranged inwardly from one face of the door, and a cam rotatably supported within the body of the door and having a portion of its periphery adapted to be moved in the path of movement of said thumb-piece, said cam being engageable with and movably operable by said operating member between two limiting positions, the first of said positions being that in which said peripheral portion is out of the path of movement of said thumb-piece, the second of said positions being that in which the peripheral portion is in said path of movement when the thumb-piece is in said normal position, whereby pivotal movement of said thumb-piece from said normal position is A prevented, a portion'of the periphery of said cambeing recessed, said recessed'portion being in'the path of movement of said thumb-piece when the cam is in its said first 'limiting position, and a stop pin extending inwardly from one face of the door and between the opposite lateral'surfaces of said recessed ortion, whereby one of said lateral surfaces will abut said stop pin in each limiting position of the cam.

2. The combination with a door latch-mechanism of the type having a spring-loaded retractable latch member slidable between a retracted position within the door and anextended position projecting outwardly from the door and normally yieldably urged into its said extended position, of a thumb-piece pivotally mounted 'on'said door and movable betweennormal' and depressed poistions, a crank arm operatively connected to said latch member, a linkage slidably connected to said thumb-piece and'pivoted to saidcrank arm whereby said latch member is movable into said retracted position in response to pivotal movement of said thumb piece into said depressed position, releasable locking means for said thLunb-piece comprising an operating member arranged inwardly from one face of the door, and a cam-rotatably supported within the body of the door and having a portion of its periphery adapted to be moved in the path of movement of said thumb-piece, said cambeing engageable with the path of movement of said arm, whereby said arm will-engage said pin in both directions-of its rotational movement.

3. The combination with a door latch mechanism of the type having a spring-loaded -re-' tractable latch member slidable between a retracted position within the door and an extended position projecting outwardly from the door and normally yieldably urged into its said extended position, of a thumb-piece pivotally mounted on said door andmovable'between'normal and depressed positions, a crank arm operativel-yconnected to said latch member, a linkage slidably connected to said thumb-piece and pivoted to said crank arm whereby said latch niember'is movable into said retracted position in response to pivotal movement of said thumbpiece:into' said depressed position, releasable locking means for said thumb-piece comprising an operating member arrangedinwardly from one face of the door, and a cam rotatably supported within the body of the door and having a portion of its periphery adapted to be moved in the pathof movement of said thumb-piece, said cam being engageable with and movably operable by said'opcrating member between two limiting positions, the first of said positions being that in which said peripheral portion is out of the path of movement of said thumb-piece, the second of said positions being that inwhich the peripheral portion is in said path of movement when the thumb-piece isin said normal-position,whereby pivotal movement of said thumb-piece from said normal position is prevented, the supporting means for said cam comprising a shaft extending from both sides of the cam, a bearing for one end of said shaft, and an auxiliary knob operatively connected with the other end of the shaft and extending outwardly from the face of the door opposite said operating member whereby said cam may be manually rotated independently of said operating member between its said limiting positions.

4. The combination with a door latchmechanism of the type having a spring-loaded retractable latch member slidable between a retracted position within the door and an extended position projecting outwardly from the door and normally yieldably urged into its said extended position, of a thumb-piece pivotally mounted on said door and movable between normal and depressed positions, a crank arm operatively connected to said latch member, a linkage slidably connected to said thumb-piece and pivoted to said crank arm whereby said latch memberis movable into said retracted position in response to pivotal movement of said thumb-piece into said depressed position, releasable locking means for said thumb-piece comprising an operating member arranged inwardly from one face of the door, and a cam rotatably supported within the body of the door and having a portion of its periphery adapted to be moved in the path of movement of said thumb-piece, said cam being engageable with and movably operable by said operating member between two limiting positions, the first of said positions being that in which said peripheral portion is out of the path of movement of said thumb-piece, the second of said positions being that in which the peripheral portion is in said path of movement when the thumb-piece is in said normal position, whereby pivotal movement of said thumb-piece from said normal position is prevented, the supporting means for said cam comprising a shaft extending from both sides of the cam, a bearing for one end of said shaft, and frictional means mounted within a portion of said bearing and engageable' with said cam, whereby movement of said cam between its said limiting positions will befrietionally resisted.

5. In combination with a door latch mechanism of the type having a spring-loaded retractable latch member movable between a retracted position within the door and an operative position extending outwardly from the door and normally yieldably urged into its said operative position, and a thumb-piece pivotally mounted on said door and operatively connected to the latch member for operatively actuating it between its said retracted and operative positions, releasable looking means for said thumb-piece comprising a. lock member extending inwardly from one face of the door and a blocking member within the body of the door engageable with and movablyoperable by said lock member between two limiting positions, one of said positions being that in which the blocking member is in non-obstructing relation with the thumb-piece, the other of said positions being that in which the blocking member is in obstructing relation with the thumbpiece in its locking position, whereby the latter is held against pivotal movement when in its said locking position, a knob operatively connected with said latch member and rotatable independently of said thumb-piece and said locking means to actuate'the latch member to its re--- tracted position, an auxiliary knob operatively connected to said blocking member for moving it between its said limiting positions, an escutcheon attached to one face of said door and operatively supporting said thumb-piece and lock member, and a second escutcheon fixed to the opposite face of said door and operatively supporting said knob and said auxiliary knob.

6. The combination with a door latch mechanism having a spring-loaded retractable latch member slidable between retracted and extended positions relative to a door and normally urged into said extended position, of a thumbpiece pivotally mounted on said door and movable between normal and depressed positions, lost motion means connecting said latch member to said 1.

thumbpieoe, said latch member maintaining said thumbpiece in said normal position and being movable to said retracted position in response to pivotal movement of said thumb-piece into said depressed position, and releasable lock means for said thumbpiece from the opposite face of said door, said releasable lock means including an op erating member and a lock member arranged inwardly from one face of said door, a shaft arranged transversely of said door and rotatably supporting said lock member, means carried by said lock member and arranged to be engaged by said operating member for rotating said lock member to obstructing and nonobstructing positions relative to said thumbpiece, and an auxiliary knob projecting from the other face of said door and operatively connected to said shaft for moving said lock member to said obstructing and nonobstruoting positions independently of said operating member.

7. In a door latch mechanism, a spring-loaded retractable latch member slidable between re tracted and extended positions relative to a door and normally urged into said extended position, two independently operable spindle receivers rotatably mounted and connected to said latch member for moving same into said retracted position, a thumbpiece pivotally mounted on said door adjacent one face thereof and movable between normal and depressed positions, means including a first spindle engageable within one of said receivers operatively connecting said thumbpiece to said latch member, said latch member normally maintaining said thumbpiece in said normal position and being movable into said re-- traoted position responsive to pivotal movement of said thumbpiece into said depressed position, a second spindle projecting from the other face of said door and engageable within the other of said receivers for moving said latch member into said retracted position independently of said thumbpiece, and releasable lock means for said thumb piece operable from said one face of said door, said releasable lock means including an operating member and a lock member arranged inwardly from one face of said door, a shaft arranged transversely of said door and rotatably supporting said lock member, means carried by said lock member and arranged to be engaged by operating member for rotating said lock member to obstructing and nonobstructing positions relative to said thumbpiece, and an auxiliary knob projecting from the other face of said door and operatively connected to said shaft for moving said lock member to said obstructing and nonobstructing positions independently of said lock member.

JULIUS MILLER. ABE DEUTSCHER.

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